The demand for childcare service continues to upgrade.
Some Chinese parents now are willing to pay good money.
Some 30k per month to hire a private tutor who will keep their children company.
What do they do?
They make sure the kids come back from school safely, finish their homework on time, do physical
exercises, a plan, and if any, address their mental or emotional issues.
Hello, I'm Lymey, and this is Roundtable.
Today with Neolhoelling and Braden Yeaks, we find out whether there is a solid career prospect
if someone were to make a higher companion their trade.
And just right before the show, we were having this conversation about how do we translate
this profession, new profession, that is taking more attention from the general public.
In Chinese, we call them Pei Bansh, which literally translates as professional companions,
but that could sound very weird in English.
And Braden introduced to us this word in French originally and he's called O'Pere.
What does an O'Pere do?
An O'Pere is kind of like an after school facilitator where they don't necessarily take on
that many roles.
They normally just ensure that the child that they are taking care of between the hours
of after school and when the parents return from work, they make sure that the kid gets
all of their necessary extra lessons, gets their homework done, also takes part in exercising
and just spends time with them in a companion sort of role.
But they don't necessarily take on any specific role as in maybe a French tutor or a tennis
instructor, but they will schedule that plan for the kid and make sure that they get to
all of those extra curricular activities.
Do they also drive like they pick up the kids?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think it's close enough.
Yeah, it's pretty close.
Yeah.
But they definitely don't get nearly that well paid compared to what we've just described.
So I can see why this particular line of work is becoming popular in China, well, or as
at least being discussed, because it sounds like a pretty, I mean, this is just my perspective.
I mean, I think it varies from family to family, but you know, it sounds like a pretty chill
job for the salary that you could potentially be earning.
Well, definitely 30k if we're talking about 30k.
It is the high end, right?
It is the high end definitely.
And I do have one specific example about this person named Jungmin.
After graduated in 2020, she actually earned a psychology degree as a MA.
And also she's graduated from top universities here in China and she started her job in
a children's magazine publishing house as an editor.
Because of that job, she has connection to a lot of different parents and talking to
the education problems, helping them.
And in the end of 2021, actually a parent who she has been talking to for quite a while
asked her a favor saying that whether or not she could occasionally pick up the kid and
helping the kid with her his or her English speaking skills and staying with the kid a
little bit longer in their home because the parents were quite busy during that time.
And the salary offered to her was around 6,000 yuan per month.
It was a part time job.
It was a part time job.
It was not bad at all.
And it's very flexible.
And she thought she could take on the job.
And that is the starting point of her paid companion career, actually.
It sounds like there's a path there or an opportunity at least for some parents to identify
highly qualified individuals that may be able to facilitate a path for their children
to get into a certain industry maybe more easily than without that companion.
For example, if for example, if you were hiring somebody that was a highly qualified mathematician
with a really prestigious school, maybe that person could identify the best maths tutors
and also through their connections later in life.
The parents could ask her if they even say, look, did you put in a good word for me at
a certain school or a certain university to get my kid through?
Maybe there's a long term prospect there.
Yeah, I get what you're saying here, but I'm not really sure if all these, let's call
them private tutors or in-house tutors or companion or parents.
Yeah, there's a lot of two parents.
If parents couldn't be there, that is a bit harsh in my opinion.
But okay, these old pairs in China, they don't necessarily have the resources, Brendan
has just mentioned, but if they do, maybe more parents from a relatively more well background
might be wishing to hire them for sure.
The idea is that for an average old pair here in China, actually they would go to the
house of the kid and pick up the kid while actually picking up the kid from the home
and sending them to school.
And then later on, reporting to the parents about the latest plan they have for the kids
about how what kind of extracurriculum classes they should be signing up to.
This is like the standard procedure.
Relatively standard procedure, yeah, for the relatively high-end services.
And then they go to school to pick up the kid and then accompany the kid to do the homework
which explains how this name is called a paid companion or a growth companion.
That's quite a lot of trust also that the parents are placing into these paid companions.
Oh definitely.
Because we think about it later on.
Yeah, because if they're facilitating a whole plan for them and identifying what skills
their child might have or what avenue they think that the child might go into.
They're literally almost forming a potential path that these children may take in the long-term
future.
Exactly.
So it's a large amount of trust that the parents are putting into these companions.
That's exactly why the person in the example that New Holy Mention earlier was able to make
that much money doing what they do.
I mean, she didn't start off doing such challenging jobs like facilitating and helping certain
children successfully passing from primary school to a good secondary school, that kind
of thing.
So the requests and demands snowboard gradually based on the word about and her popularity
among whoever that's used her service.
I think that's where it differs as well.
I think there are opportunities like, for example, with me with the South African example
where it's normally a university student or someone that's doing part-time work that
is able to spend their spare time making a bit of extra money and taking kids to lessons
and that sort of thing.
That's generally the role of a professional companion in South Africa and other Western countries
I suppose.
But then with this example in China, if you really go to the high end and are willing
to spend large amounts of money to secure somebody that's really experienced in a certain
field and highly qualified in a certain field, that person can really take on a major responsibility
that could potentially shape a child's entire future.
So the parents have to hope that the money that they are investing in a certain paid companion
particularly at that higher end, that that person is going to make the right decisions
and also have the child's best interests in mind.
It's quite a, like I said, it's a huge amount of trust from the parents, but on the flipside
it's also in some instances a massive responsibility taken on by some of these paid companions.
Which is why I said one way to translate this term, pay-upay-bansh is substitute parents.
They are essentially doing the job of a parent who otherwise couldn't be there for their kids.
Well, all of the planning of the observation and follow-up and adjusting, you know, it's
all related to the development of a kid whether he or she is interested in whether they have
talent in certain aspects and whether they should, you know, devote more resources to
help them grow in particular aspects.
I mean, a lot of them are very important decisions.
Yes, but those decisions can be made by someone who are relatively more professional than
what the parents are believing they themselves are.
Because we talked about there's a spectrum, there's the relatively low end services in this
industry that is making up exactly.
And there's the really high end once we talked about that is to give the kid a path that
they should be going towards and going along with.
And I think for many parents, if they are actually hiring a professional companion with
the money of 30k or even higher than that, definitely they do a lot of research and also
they interview these people and they would take daily or weekly report from these old
parents, making sure that they are giving their kids the proper path or proper guidance
or a place to follow.
It's a little bit tricky from my end because I also think that if you're placing that
much trust in a person that's not the parent to also make decisions for the child potentially
and guide them down a path at such a young age, it might also potentially limit the child's
ability to just develop their own path and their own passions and their own skills.
Because the parents have hired a professional in a certain field that may be biased towards
a certain academic subject or a certain sport or whatever it may be.
So it might be a little bit counterintuitive in terms of allowing the kid to develop their
own passions naturally.
I know what you're saying, but for many of these parents, the reason they're hiring these
professional companions is that they, to start with, they want these professional companions
to have the ability to have, for example, the background of child psychology, education.
It's not a specific genre of specific discipline.
It's more like the ability to understand kids in this stage.
We're talking about kids before the age of 12 or even 10.
They're really young kids.
It's not that easy to pick up the clue of whether or not your kid is currently resenting
schools.
And those sorts of professionals will be able to determine even with kids at that age,
they won't necessarily be able to tell what a kid is going to excel at later in life,
but they might be able to identify a certain natural talents.
Exactly.
Natural passions, that sort of thing.
We had a very similar thing in South Africa, but it happened later in the schooling years.
It normally happened at around 13 or 14.
For example, the school that I went to, we had a professional clinical psychologist on
campus.
And every pupil in the eight for ninth grade had to spend a session per week with this
clinical psychologist.
I think they were actually more than one, but I only dealt with the one.
And they also performed a similar role.
So you would sit down with them and they'd ask you what your passions are, what do you like,
what are your hobbies, etc, etc.
And through that dialogue, they would then formulate some sort of report that would
then be handed to my teachers and to my parents to say, look, this is what I believe,
skills and passions that your child has.
And maybe this is just a framework that could give you some direction in which your child
could potentially go down, or which you as teachers and parents can kind of facilitate
your child to go down to.
So it's similar to that.
It'll be nice if every school in this country can provide a role of someone who can professionally
observe and also make plan for the kids on campus.
But unfortunately, we are not there yet.
No, in South Africa, I was very fortunate to go to a private school.
So it's also very, it's not widely available across South Africa either, unfortunately.
And I think if you do have the opportunity and the privilege to have that service as a child
or to, you know, to offer that sort of service to your child as a parent, I think it is hugely
beneficial in terms of potential development as you go on in your school years, university
years, etc.
I think the demand for the special kind of service has existed for as long as we can
remember, I mean, in ancient times, the Spartans had a tradition of hiring the Greek teachers
to be in house and guide their kids.
And then I think even in literary works like in Gen Ishe, I think she worked a part-time
or a full-time as a governess in the major characters home.
And then I think in ancient China as well, we used to, well, the well-out family used
to hire some educated scholar to be in house teacher to their kids or sometimes the kids
of a much bigger family using the same surname.
So it was already there, the kind of demand.
But now I think the kind of request and demand has upgraded to a certain point where it
has to cover many aspects, aspects that previously wasn't necessarily considered.
When we are talking about the four-instead and certain kids that may or experience some
kind of a mental or emotional issues, I think some professional with a background and
training in this regard, they can be in a position to provide that kind of service and
help that parents may need.
Yes.
And also if we talk about the other end of the spectrum.
Only for some parents, the problem is only that their kids schools, well, finish, really
way before they get off work.
And they do need someone to pick up their kids.
And for those really young kids, they also hope that after being picked up and sending
back to home, they're not alone by themselves.
So for that part of demand, we do have many different types of solutions here in the
country.
This says, I remember when I was a kid, I went to the place called Showninggong that is
a youth palace.
That has been a lot of time enjoying learning pleasantries at courts.
Learning extra curriculum classes, actually learning calligraphy, learning certain types
of music, which I never follow through.
So we would just call that daycare.
But I love how those directions are amazing.
It's a palace for the young kids and the young kids can play around and have fun.
And there's that.
And the sports.
Definitely.
And these kind of services have, well, exist in a lot of different places, including, I
think different countries even.
We have, for example, I know in the United Kingdom, they have the extended school services.
They offer schools, actually offer a range of after-sook activities from homework clubs,
while homework clubs, who want to be in that club?
Nobody.
Two sports and arts and aimed at enriching students, educational experiences, and supporting
working parents.
And in New Zealand, their programs call it, schools out.
School out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There should be more after school, rugby clinics in New Zealand because South Africa
keeps dominating them at the World Cup.
Well, they actually provide before and after-school care with a mix of academic, sport, sports, and
arts.
Maybe you can advise them too.
It's much needed, yes.
Yes.
So in Spain, they have volunteer in Barcelona with international volunteer HQ offers various
after-school programs including youth support and after-school centers, where volunteers
help children with academic and social activities while immersing in the local culture as well.
So different places do have different solutions for the problem of that time difference in
the world of parents and the world of kids.
And I guess this is just one of those solutions.
Yeah, but I think even though, like you've said, a lot of those school programs for young
kids and kids end very early compared to when parents finish their work hours, I think
there also needs to be a lot more responsibility taken on by parents to identify what kind of
after-school activities their kids are participating in.
So even though they aren't necessarily available between those hours, I think when they are available
after work or on weekends, whatever, I think it would be wise of parents to spend time
communicating with their kids and trying to establish what might be the best path for
them to go down in terms of what sort of art school activities they take part in because
as you've mentioned, there are so many options as a parent it might be quite tricky to identify
what might be best for your individual child or children.
In short, Brenda is saying spend time with your kids, heron.
Never a bad idea, yes.
And that's definitely much needed.
And actually I think there are pros and cons of hiring someone to be with your kids because
sometimes for kids, well, for example, I myself, I was not a very, how do I put it?
Easy to dealt with, kind of kid.
I don't tell my parents certain things, but I would maybe spill it out to a similar age
or older sister and I'll tell her my secrets.
So there's that kind of kid.
I feel like already my son is like four and a half years old already he doesn't listen
to me or my wife.
He would much rather listen to a coach or a teacher in school.
So having someone who's not in the family who's authoritative, he had not in the family.
He hasn't learned to disrespect.
But definitely I do have other kinds of classmates who would listen to just their parents, not
someone else.
They have this huge trust on their parents and their personality decides that spending
time with their parents and talking to their parents benefit them the most.
So yes, every parent should spend quality time with their kid, but every kid is also different,
which is why they might need different kind of solutions and we're providing one other
solution here.
Also, with the precedents in history and also the examples in different countries around
the world, I think we've pretty much established that the special need do exist, special needs
do exist for that kind of service, but who would rather do that job?
Because some of the qualifications and criteria that New Holy mentioned earlier, like having
the ability to speak flu in English, having background and having very good educational
backgrounds and a psychology education background, that kind of thing.
So these kind of qualifications would make someone the ideal candidate or ideal applicant
to be a teacher, a professional teacher.
And in fact, a lot of young graduates are dying for an opportunity to be a professional
teacher somewhere because they are, they provide a stable job and they are relatively
reasonably well-paid.
And why should someone go for a private tutor job or a pair job instead of going into
a professional teacher's job where the stability is guaranteed, where they have the chance
to help much more students and parents than they do with individual families?
They might have a specific skill that is highly in demand and also think some tutors or individuals
are maybe better suited to one-on-one lessons as opposed to dealing with a big classroom.
So if I was somebody that was highly experienced in a certain field and an expert in a certain
field and highly qualified in that field and was highly sought after and could demand
multiple clients and charge them each, you know, a fee that could reach up to 30,000 per
month, that could be potentially a lot more lucrative than just being a classroom teacher.
And we have to admit that we're only talking about the ideal situation in the first half
of the show.
There are people who are not really up to the standard in trying to be the candidate of
such position for sure and also some of the relatively qualified paid companions see
or meet the situation or the obstacles of facing a job that is largely unstable, trying
they where they need to take care of themselves or trying to immerse in the family every
several months which can be very challenging.
And so there are definitely problems in this industry.
And they'll probably be more demanding dealing with parents like that as opposed to dealing
with a classroom.
Definitely.
If you're paying somebody for one-on-one services with a child, you'll probably find
that the parents of that child are incredibly demanding.
And it's certainly not for everyone.
I mean, remember the comparison between a stable professional job as a teacher as compared
to being an old pair because it's a very, very new type of job and it's not even included
in the official catalog of employment opportunities on the book.
And that's such.
And also you're working domestically within someone's family and the kind of oversight
and is not as complete as you would expect working for an institution like a school.
So both the parents, teachers and children are not very well or supervised in that kind
of scenario.
And any young people hoping to get into the industry will have to think it through.
Are you comfortable working under the roof as somebody else and where there is not enough
supervision and are you comfortable paying for your own retirement plans as compared to
the institution that has you will pay into that.
And so where you'll be able to assume and fulfill the kind of responsibilities demanded
of you.
And a lot of it will depend on how you plan your future career and whether you find it
worthwhile going forward.
And currently there are many platforms and institutions hiring such paid or companion
jobs.
And also parents are looking for the really good ones.
But with the markets doing growing with the industry still trying to get more and more
mature and properly supervised.
Definitely we are still looking at a very new profession.
And hopefully in the future the demand can be better met.
And also relative standards as well as the welfare of the people working in the industry
can be guaranteed as well.
If there's any parents out there that are wanting their kids to become professional sports
journalists one day and are way to pay more than 30,000 you and per month, I'm available.
So to bring up a point that Brandon already mentioned and that is there's no substitute
for real parents.
Even though that the kind of resources certain parents can command and are willing to
spend on their kids is quite considerable.
There's still no substitute for the kind of companionship and care that real parents
can afford their children and in fact parents need to absolutely spend more time with their
kids to know.
And if they hire someone as an opair to know whether the opair is doing a right job.
